page_title: Water supply and sanitation in Singapore
section_title: Expansion of water imports from Malaya and of local reservoirs (1965-1997)
hierarchical_section_title: Water supply and sanitation in Singapore / History / Expansion of water imports from Malaya and of local reservoirs (1965-1997)
caption_attribution_description: English: A view of the jungle at Upper Peirce Reservoir in Singapore near the Bukit Timah Expressway.
context_page_description: Water supply and sanitation in Singapore is characterised by a number of achievements in the challenging environment of a densely populated island. Access to water is universal, affordable, efficient and of high quality. Innovative integrated water management approaches such as the reuse of reclaimed water, the establishment of protected areas in urban rainwater catchments and the use of estuaries as freshwater reservoirs have been introduced along with seawater desalination in order to reduce the country's dependence on water imported from neighbouring country, Malaysia.
  Singapore's approach does not rely only on physical infrastructure, but it also emphasizes proper legislation and enforcement, water pricing, public education as well as research and development. In 2007 Singapore's water and sanitation utility, the Public Utilities Board, received the Stockholm Industry Water Award for its holistic approach to water resources management.
context_section_description: After the war, Singapore continued to grow rapidly and more water was needed to sustain the city’s growth. The 1927 agreement was superseded by two new agreements signed in 1961 and 1962 between the independent federation of Malaya and the self-governing British territory of Singapore. They foresaw the payment of a water rate in addition to the rent for the land.
  Under these agreements Singapore built two water treatment plants in Singapore and a new, expanded pipeline from Johor. Singapore also supplied treated water to Johor far below the cost of treating the water. At the time of the agreements it was expected that Singapore would become part of Malaysia, as it did for a brief period beginning in 1963.
  When Singapore separated from Malaysia in 1965, then Malaysian Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman said that "If Singapore’s foreign policy is prejudicial to Malaysia’s interests, we could always bring pressure to bear on them by threatening to turn off the water in Johor". Malaysians point out that this statement should be seen in context that Malaysia and Indonesia were engaged in a confrontation at the time and that the remark referred to the possibility of Singapore siding with Indonesia.
  This was another motive for Singapore to further develop its local water resources, according to Lee Kuan Yew. Therefore, in parallel to the gradual expansion of water imports from Johor  the Public Utilities Board, created in 1963, embarked on the construction of more water schemes inside Singapore. They included the damming of river estuaries to allow for greater storage volumes. For example, the Kranji-Pandan Scheme, completed in 1975, included the damming of the estuary of the Kranji river and the construction of a reservoir at Pandan. In the same year, the Upper Peirce Reservoir was completed. As part of the Western Catchment Scheme, completed in 1981, another four rivers were dammed.
  In 1983, a dam was built across the estuary of the Seletar River to form the Lower Seletar Reservoir. But these amounts were still not sufficient, and seawater desalination was too expensive at the time to be considered. Singapore was thus interested in building a dam on the Johor River in Malaysia and an associated new water treatment plant. After six years of difficult negotiations, the Prime Ministers of Singapore and Malaysia signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 1988 paving the way for an agreement in 1990 with Johor that allowed the construction of the dam.
caption: The Upper Peirce Reservoir, one of the reservoirs located in Singapore's Central Catchment Nature Reserve.
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